Look After You
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day eighteen - Puck may not be with Quinn, but...


_Three... Two (!!)... ONE (yay!) week Glee hiatus, the horrors! To try and make it go by faster, I decided to do this project. I'll put up one new ficlet every day (I hope...) up to the day Glee returns! So be on the lookout! :)_

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**"Look After You"  
Puck, Puck/Quinn**

He'd seen Quinn walking around like a ghost for a day or so, but he'd brushed it off… probably some girl thing. It didn't connect with him until he confronted Finn on his own issues, and he discovered the two were related.

He also discovered they were related… to him. He knew very well that Quinn was not going around from guy to guy, and he knew she hadn't been with Finn… and so the options had run, and it left him as the one and only… the culprit… the daddy-to-be.

He'd wasted no time in approaching Quinn so she'd know he wasn't going to abandon her in this. He'd made his case to her… and she'd shot him down.

For a time, he tried not to think about it. He had a game to focus on, after all. They'd done their dance, for the sake of one victory to break their losing streak. They'd had their win, and he'd have gone off to celebrate if not for a sudden reminder…

He watched as Finn was congratulated by a smiling Quinn, watched them walk away together. All at once, his thoughts went to that baby… to Quinn…

She may not have cared that he cared, may not let him look out for the both of them… but that wasn't going to stop him.

There was only so much he could do where certain things were concerned. After he'd watched her dash off mid practice, he wasn't sure what he should do… This was all part of it, wasn't it… Still, he snuck out of the room and went toward the girls' bathroom, standing off to the side. When Quinn finally emerged, pale and dazed, she moved right along, never registering his presence.

He watched her off, all the while thinking that if one twirl in Finn's arms was enough to send her diving for the bathroom, her stomach might have trouble staying put throughout their performances.

As they went on to do their first song, he looked back, finding her with a glance. She looked solid, so on they went. His concerns for her getting sick were proven wrong.

A couple of weeks went by, and he wanted so much to ask her how she was doing, but he knew full well she'd end up yelling at him again before she'd tell him. So he settled for getting his information where he could.

After he saw the girls' mash-up though, he had to see if she'd taken the 'vitamin.' He may not have known much about babies and pregnancies, but seeing what that vitamin would do to them, he had to think it could be harmful.

"Nice dress," he went up to her. She was still smiling from the performance. When she saw him, the smile lightened, though she didn't frown. "That was kind of crazy," he nodded toward the other girls, still ambling about.

"No crazier than you guys, from what I heard…" she looked to the side, seeing Rachel still clapping away. Puck looked as well.

"No, no that's… a new world of batshit," he made the 'crazy' gesture at his head. He looked back to Quinn, who just smirked, watching Rachel. She threw him a look before turning to walk away. "Hey, Quinn," he called. She stopped, taking a moment to turn. She wasn't smiling so much anymore.

"What?" she asked. Looking at her, he could tell she wasn't on the vitamin, so…

"Looks good on you," he nodded. She looked down to herself before walking off.

He developed his covert tendencies, figuring that had been working. When he heard about her having gone to an ultrasound, with Finn and Mr. Schuester, he didn't dwell too long on not having been there – he probably wouldn't have been all that helpful anyway. But he had to know everything was okay, with her and the kid. Instead of trying to get that information out of Quinn herself, he went to the next best option. He found Finn in the locker room, getting ready for football practice.

"Hey, so I heard you and Quinn went in for… that thing," he looked around, seeing if others were in earshot.

"Yeah, Mr. Schue took us there," he nodded.

"And?" Puck asked, trying to sound casually concerned.

"Doctor said everything was good," Finn nodded with a smile. Puck nodded back, readying to walk off when… "It's a girl." He looked back to Finn.

He looked happy… that should have been his happiness, no? That was his baby, his… his daughter. And Quinn, she was…

The day went on, and his concerns were erased by Coach Sylvester's revealing she knew about Quinn, and soon so would the others. It didn't hit home until he saw Finn holding a crying Quinn up close.

It would be easy to think 'maybe she should be with Finn, maybe she'd be happier and have a better life…

His belief in that reasoning only lasted for so long, after that day. It was the start of the slushie wars… Sitting in the rehearsal room, he watched Quinn carefully clean Finn off after he'd been slushied.

He remembered that afternoon, when they'd ended up together and… She was drunk, of course, but still he knew he'd seen the sweetness in her that day. He was seeing some of it there too, as Quinn was cleaning off Finn. The care she gave him… he wanted it… he wanted someone like that in his life, even if it couldn't be her…

He'd tried, with Rachel. He'd gone in whole heartedly, actually felt good about it all for a while.

It could only last so long before he came back down to earth and he had to face the facts… Even Rachel had figured him out, said out loud what was up until then only ever in his head.

He liked Quinn. He wanted to take care of her, wanted her to understand he could be a good guy, for her and for the baby.

He had a chance to become so much more, to turn a page… If he could just let her see that…

He hadn't given her much of a reason, for her to trust him, to trust that whatever he told her was true, that it would stay true. He needed for her to understand that, or he'd only ever keep running in circles.

THE END


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